Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Sunday, April 5, 2015
Singapore Has Found A Workable Alternative to the Welfare State
Lee Kuan Yew, the first prime minister of Singapore, died last week at age 91. Almost every obituary has remarked on the radical transition his leadership heralded. As John Fund wrote at National Review: >"By embracing free trade, capital formation, vigorous meritocratic education, low taxes, and a reliable judicial system, Lee raised the per capita income of his country from $500 a year to some $52,000 a year today. That's 50 percent higher than that of Britain, the colonial power that ruled Singapore for 150 years. Its average annual growth rate has averaged 7 percent since the 1970s." Part of the reason for Singapore's remarkable climb up the international income ladder is bread and butter capitalism. The Frasier institute's Freedom of the World report lists Singapore as the second freest economy in the world -- right behind Hong Kong. As Frasier scholars have demonstrated year after year, economic growth and free markets go hand and hand.
Test Your Baseball Knowledge
Visiting a struggling pitcher on the mound, Baltimore Orioles manager Earl Weaver advised, "If you know how to cheat, start now." Be advised that Googling is cheating as you try to identify: (1) The player who compiled at least 400 total bases in five different seasons (no one else did it in four). (2) Which three players hit 500 home runs but never struck out 85 times in a season. (3) The last player to steal 100 bases in one season. (4) The four players to steal a base in four decades.
Saturday, April 4, 2015
Is There Anything in the Global Warming Debate That Would Convince Me I'm Wrong?
There is a constant process I go through, from a forecast for tomorrow, to when I train with weights. Unless challenged, you do not improve. So the challenge is listed in the title above. I must always seek the right answer. It's not getting soft, it's simply using this methodology to either confirm or deny my idea. So, is there anything in the global warming debate that would convince me I am wrong? As a matter of fact, yes. 1.) The PDO, which is tracking nicely with the 1950s, turned cold early- and mid-'50s, warmed late (as it is now) and then turned cold again. The AMO, which is in its warm end game now, turned cold, but temperatures did not fall. However, since 2007 and the flip of the PDO, there has been a slight *decrease* in global temperatures on the NCEP CFSR data.
From The Comedy Store
University of Oklahoma president David Boren disciplined twenty more SAE fraternity members for being on a party bus singing a house jingle with three N-words in it. The school president then attended OU's first home baseball game of the season. He was there to throw out the First Amendment.
5 Rules for Victory in the Culture War
But how do we fight the culture war? Luckily, as always, I'm super smart and have some good advice.
Friday, April 3, 2015
What Jokes Are Too Insensitive?
Comedy Central hosted another one of its vicious and disgusting celebrity "roasts" on March 30, with Justin Bieber as the target. During the "pre-show" before the roast, unfunny comedian Jeff Ross arrived wearing a pope costume and accompanied by sexy "nuns" in black habits and fishnet stockings. Red-carpet host Sarah Tiana introduced him as the "popemaster general" and gushed,"You look amazing. You're going to be hilarious." Ross replied, "Bless you, Sarah. Congratulations on all of your abortions." The slaughter of innocent babies is hilarious, apparently. During the roast, rapper Snoop Dogg lashed out at Bieber. "Now when your mama was 17 years old and got pregnant, everybody told her to get an abortion, right? ... And they still trying to convince her right now." Comedian Natasha Leggero cracked that Bieber has "moves" because "he was in the womb dodging a coat hanger."
What a Deal
Boy do I have a deal for you. Give me enough money to build a fancy new house, and I promise I won't try to blow up yours. You can even check my basement to make sure I'm not stockpiling dynamite. Oh, and I promise I won't try to buy any explosives from those shady characters I hang out with or hide what I already have in a storage unit somewhere else. Sound like a good bargain? Well, in simple terms, it pretty much describes the framework the Obama administration has signed on to in order to persuade Iran to give up its quest to build nuclear weapons. The U.S. and our allies agree to lift economic sanctions, which have crippled the Iranian economy, in return for Iran agreeing to hold back on making nuclear weapons for a while. They promise to convert facilities we know they have been using to enrich uranium and plutonium. They will even let us inspect some sites, though we know they have violated all previous agreements for open inspections. And we'll continue to turn a blind eye toward the mullahs' pervasive violations of human rights, especially those of women.
RFRA Not Like Jim Crow Laws At All
"It's the Jim Crow law of our time." That exact quote, or one very much like it, has come from the mouths of reporters, editorialists, activists, corporate CEOs and, of course, politicians, all because of Indiana's Religious Freedom and Restoration Act. (RFRA) The other day I wrote a column arguing that it's ridiculous to compare Indiana's RFRA to Jim Crow laws. It was obvious, at least to me, that lots of people didn't really understand what RFRA was. What I failed to appreciate is that perhaps even more people didn't really know what Jim Crow laws were. After the Civil War, the victorious North, led by the fledgling Republican Party, brought civil rights, including economic rights, to Southern blacks by a series of legislative "Reconstruction" acts, hence, the "Reconstruction era."
Let's Recognize Who the Real Haters Are
One may reasonably wonder whether the militant left in this country is solely dedicated to manufacturing issues to keep the nation in a constant state of uproar, angst and disharmony. We're seeing lots of negativity and intolerance from those so concerned that we all love one another. Their most recent cause for hysterical urgency is Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The left has gone absolutely bonkers attempting to paint that legislation as a license for Christians to discriminate against gays for sport and is smearing anyone who supports it as a reactionary bigot. Don't you long for those days when words had meaning? Now we have propagandists whose principal job is to deceitfully distort word meanings to promote their causes.
The Crossroads of America Crossed on Freedom
On the eve of Good Friday, big business leaders jingled some silver in front of Indiana's elected leaders to entice them away from defending religious freedom and sadly they took the silver. After huddling with CEOs and LGBT groups, the legislative leadership unveiled a new law that not only guts the state's newly enacted Religious Freedom Restoration Act but imposes punishing fines on people who follow their beliefs about marriage. While most were expecting some kind of 'clarification,' few expected the proposed law that outrageously contemplates criminal prosecution for business owners who decline to be a party to a same-sex ceremony. The proposal doesn't directly create criminal punishment, but for the first time establishes that if the legislature were ever to adopt criminal penalties in the future, a religious freedom claim would provide NO DEFENSE against imprisonment. The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty describes the proposed language as making "specific allowances for criminal prosecution." But the intolerant left isn't waiting on lawmakers and the governor to sort out what punishments might be imposed. They have turned their fury on Memories Pizza in Walkerton, Indiana all because a co-owner of the restaurant told a reporter, who was asking local small businesses if they would service same-sex weddings, that she would not cater a same-sex 'wedding.' The restaurant temporarily closed its doors [Wednesday] "due to the volume of calls and threats it had received."
Victim Shock Troops
*"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. -- George Washington* Until almost literally the day before yesterday, it was universally acknowledged that religious faith and expression were bedrock American freedoms -- enshrined in the Constitution, protected in law and honored in custom. But now, because the left has been victorious in convincing the elites that upholding traditional marriage is low bigotry, religious freedom will have to yield. Not all religious freedom, though.
Stop Pretending to Be Offended by Everything
Lena Dunham received plenty of criticism for her insufferable New Yorker piece titled "Dog or Jewish Boyfriend? A Quiz." In it, the creator of "Girls" weighs the pros and cons of getting a pet or keeping her Jewish boyfriend: "He doesn't tip," and "he never brings his wallet anywhere," and so on. The jokes may tell us something about her comedic abilities, her audience and The New Yorker, but despite much hand-wringing, it tells us nothing about anti-Semitism. The Anti-Defamation League's national director, Abraham Foxman, the unelected voice of American Jewish conscience, argued, "The piece is particularly troubling because it evokes memories of the 'No Jews or Dogs Allowed' signs from our own early history in this country, and also because, in a much more sinister way, many in the Muslim world today hatefully refer to Jews as 'dogs.'"
Indiana Religious Freedom Act in Accord With Traditional American Toleration
There has been a great ruckus about Indiana's recently passed religious freedom law. Some, including Apple CEO Tim Cook, see it as endorsing anti-gay bigotry. Democratic Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy has banned state employees from traveling to Indiana, even though Connecticut has a similar law even more favorable to claims of religious objectors. Perhaps he should ban state employees from remaining inside Connecticut. The Indiana law is substantially identical to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, passed by Congress by a near-unanimous vote in 1993 and signed with brio by Bill Clinton. It was a response to a Supreme Court decision upholding an Oregon drug law against members of the Native American Church who had claimed their religion requires drug use.
Thursday, April 2, 2015
Obama's Strategy for ISIL: Multisectarianism
The Obama administration's plan for thwarting the Islamic State, which it carefully calls ISIL, is to encourage multisectarianism in Iraq. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter explained the administration's vision when he testified last month before the Senate Armed Services Committee. "What happened last year was an unwillingness of the Iraqi security forces to fight, using the equipment and training that the United States had given them," Carter told the committee. "And the reason for that was a political failure on the part of their government to keep the promise that had been made to the country to keep it a multisectarian state. And that was not what was happening under (former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri) al-Maliki, and that's the reason why the forces folded."
Sen. Dick Durbin and the Race Card
Does Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., suffer from short, medium and long-term memory loss? In criticizing Republicans for holding up the nomination of Loretta Lynch, Durbin said, "Loretta Lynch, the first African-American woman nominated to be attorney general, is asked to sit in the back of the bus when it comes to the Senate calendar." Race card alert! Does Durbin not recall voting against Miguel Estrada and even participating in a filibuster against the man who would have been the first Hispanic on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit?
The Challenge: What Is Good About 'Good Friday?'
Darkness fell across the land and the man they thought would be their savior cried out in a loud voice, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Soon after, he breathed his last. The people standing at the foot of the cross beat their breasts and walked away. From a distance, his mother and friends watched in somber silence as all this took place. His disciples were broken in spirit -- no doubt confused, hurting and angry. Disappointed to say the least. They had followed this man for years, left their work and their families for him. They thought he would change everything. But in the course of one day, all of their hopes were defeated. They all felt the sting of betrayal when Judas brought the soldiers and guards to the garden to arrest Jesus. Later, Peter saw the darkness of his own heart as he denied his closest friend. Their miracle-worker remained silent as he was accused, kept still as he was beaten, and carried his own cross. They heard the crowd mocking him, telling him to save himself, and they swelled with anticipation waiting to see him do it. Surely, he would. But instead, he gave up his spirit.
Indiana and the Culture Wars
If I visit a kosher restaurant and order a pork chop, am I being discriminated against when the waiter says they don't serve pork? If an establishment requires that men wear jackets and women dress in what that establishment defines as an "appropriate way," does that constitute discrimination? When I visit the Vatican, the Swiss Guards won't let me in if I'm wearing shorts. They offer a cover-up. It is the same for women, if they bare too much flesh. Is that discrimination? What about the sign "no shoes, no shirt, no service"? Is that bigotry against the shoeless and shirtless? Should the government force any of these entities to violate their standards?
Sex Among the Goofballs
What is going on in American politics of late? There has not emerged a truly goofball politician since Anthony Weiner, the congressman and later New York mayoral candidate who could not resist sending pictures of his private part so frequently and to so many women that it really was no longer a private part but rather a public spectacle. Go ahead; Google it. In fact, Yahoo it. My guess is there are dozens of pictures of Weiner's public private part all over the Internet. The best example of a contemporary pol's being slightly goofball is Aaron Schock, the Republican from Illinois' 18th Congressional District. Yet he has had the good sense to resign from Congress. My guess is he suspected there was something shameful about his deportment. One cannot really be a goofball pol and accept the notion of shame. Yet what caused him to leave Congress? Was it the hubristic pride he took in his torso? Countless times, he was photographed displaying the exquisite torso of a male underwear model to the world. That was a hoot, and even more of a hoot was his appearance on the cover of Men's Health magazine with his shirt out and daringly unbuttoned to display his well-toned abs. By the way, what sport demands well-toned abs?
The Democrats Win in Indiana
March Madness hit Indiana hard this week. It had nothing to do with the NCAA's Final Four Championship, which is coming to Indianapolis on Saturday. And despite what you think, it wasn't about gay rights, either. It was really all about was 2016 presidential politics. The firestorm of media attention and orchestrated liberal outrage started last week after Indiana Gov. Mike Pence signed his state's version of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
Hands Up, Don't Discriminate Against Gays!
Happy National Hate Week! Today, we're all hating on Indiana. Who will be the left's Emmanuel Goldstein next week? Evidently, the sole function of the media these days is to subject the public to a steady stream of manufactured events: "Hands Up, Don't Shoot"; nuclear power kills; Lena Dunham's rape by a college conservative at Oberlin; the "mattress girl" raped at Columbia University; Jon Stewart is funny; a fraternity gang-rape at the University of Virginia; and a law protecting religious freedom will lead to separate water fountains for gays in Indiana. The whole country has to keep being dragged through these liberal hate campaigns, but as soon as the precipitating event turns out to be a gigantic hoax, the truth is revealed like a bedtime story being read to a child: The ending is whispered and the narrator tiptoes out of the room.